London Heathrow International Airport
London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow (IATA: LHR, ICAO: EGLL), located in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the largest and busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the European Union. It is the world's fourth busiest airport for passenger traffic and it handles the most international passenger traffic in the world. Heathrow is owned and operated by BAA, which also owns and operates six other UK airports. BAA is itself owned by an international consortium led by the Spanish Ferrovial Group. Heathrow is the primary hub of British Airways, BMI and Virgin Atlantic. Located 12 NM (22 km; 14 mi) west of Central London, England, Heathrow originally was designed to have six runways in three pairs spaced approximately 120 degrees apart but now has just two parallel main runways running east-west and five terminals. The site covers 12.14 square kilometres (4.69 sq mi). Terminal 5 was officially opened by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II on 14 March 2008 and opened to passengers on 27 March 2008. Construction of Heathrow East, to replace Terminal 2 and The Queen's Building, began in 2009, and is expected to be completed by early 2014. Terminals 3 and 4 will also be refurbished during this period. In November 2007 a consultation process began for the building of a new third runway and was controversially approved on 15th January 2009 by UK Government ministers. Heathrow Airport has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P527) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction. |- |} Terminals Terminal 1 Terminal 1 was opened in 1968 and was formally opened by in May 1969. In 2005, a substantial redesign and redevelopment of the terminal was completed, which saw the opening of the new Eastern Extension, doubling the departure lounge in size and creating additional seating and retail space. It handles some of Heathrow's domestic and all Irish routes along with some long haul and European routes. Terminal 2 Terminal 2 is Heathrow's oldest terminal and was opened as the Europa Building in 1955. It, as well as the adjacent Queens Building, will be demolished in 2009 to make way for the new Heathrow East terminal. Terminal 3 Terminal 3 was opened as The Oceanic Terminal on 13 November 1961 to handle flight departures for long-haul routes.At this time the airport had a direct helicopter service to from the gardens on the roof of the terminal building. The Oceanic Terminal was renamed as Terminal 3 in 1968 and was expanded in 1970 with the addition of an arrivals building. Other facilities were also added, including the UK's first . In 2006, the new £105 million Pier 6 was completedin order to accommodate the superjumbo; both and now operate regular flights from Terminal 3 using the Airbus A380. Redevelopment of Terminal 3's forecourt by the addition of a new four lane drop-off area and a large pedestrianised plaza, complete with canopy to the front of the terminal building was completed in 2007; these improvements were intended to improve passengers' experiences, reduce traffic congestion and improve security. also have plans for a £1bn upgrade of the rest of the terminal over the next ten years. Terminal 4 Terminal 4 is situated to the south of the southern runway next to the cargo terminal, and is connected to Terminals 1, 2 and 3 by the . , From 2009 it will become the Heathrow base for airlines of the alliance. Following the transfer of most of British Airways' flights to Terminal 5 during 2008, Terminal 4 is undergoing a £200m upgrade to enable it to accommodate 45 airlines and serve as the base for the SkyTeam alliance. The forecourt has been upgraded to reduce traffic congestion and improve security. An extended check-in area will open in late 2009, and piers and departure lounges are being renovated. Two new stands to accommodate the are being constructed, and a new baggage system is being installed. Terminal 5 Terminal 5 is situated between the northern and southern runways at the western end of the Heathrow site, and was opened by on 14 March 2008 some nineteen years after its inception. The first two weeks of the terminal's operation were disrupted by a number of problems with the terminal's IT systems, coupled with insufficient testing and staff training, which caused over 500 flights to be cancelled. Built at a cost of £4.3 billion, the consists of a four storey main terminal building (Concourse A) and two satellite buildings linked to the main terminal by an underground transit system. The first satellite (Concourse B) includes dedicated aircraft stands for the ; Concourse C is currently under construction and scheduled to open in 2010.In total, Terminal 5 has 60 aircraft stands and capacity for 30 million passengers annually. There are more than 100 shops and restaurants. The transport network around the airport has been extended to cope with the increase in passenger numbers. A dedicated has been built from the between junctions 14 and 15 to the terminal, which includes a 3,800 space multi-storey car park. A more distant long-stay car park for business passengers will be linked to the terminal by a system, which will open in 2009.New branches of both the and the 's serve a new shared . Heathrow East Terminal In November 2005 announced that after the opening of Terminal 5 in 2008, it planned to demolish Terminals 1 and 2 and the Queen's Building administrative centre between them, and replace them by a new Heathrow East terminal. The new terminal will provide an increase in capacity, being capable of handling 30 million people five million fewer than currently use Terminals 1 and 2, although considerably more than the design capacity of the existing buildings. The plan envisages the complete realignment of piers more logically and the building of new ones on the now defunct cross-wind runway, in a site taking up roughly the same amount of space as Terminal 5. Formerly Heathrow East, the core terminal building will be known as Terminal 2A, and there will be a satellite building named Terminal 2B, similar to Terminal 5. Planning permission was granted in May 2007 on condition that the project meets a number of targets. The construction of new aircraft stands began in early 2009 to allow Terminal 2 to be demolished later in the year, enabling construction of the main terminal to begin. Originally planned to be completed by 2012 in time for the , Terminal 2A and its satellite building will not come into operation now until early 2014.The entire project is set to cost £1-1.5bn. Airlines and Destinations